Animalasia
by Xmenfan23
Summary: OC and Nightcrawler, also Margali and Amanda.
1. A Hero is Born

**Animalasia: The Toughest Girl Alive**

By Xmenfan23

A Hero is Born

A long time ago, in the town of State Collage, a fourteen year old girl by the name of Lauren Loebig lived happily with her parents and good friends, but that was going to change in quite a short time. She was sitting in science, feeling terrible, she has been hurting all over, all day, nonstop. Her teacher, Mr. Marlo, was talking about the science of animals, which strangely made her feel worse, like something was trying to claw its way out of her. She really wished she could go to the nurse, but had already told her under no circumstances, does anyone leave. She sighed, and was forced to pay attion, to matter how badly she hurt.

kept talking on about animals, and Lauren felt like her bones had shattered into a million pieces. All of a sudden, just as the teacher said, "dog", Lauren stared to jerk and twitch. A flash of light burst from her, and a golden retriever was in her spot. All her classmates were screaming and the teacher was calling the Mutant Response Division (MRD) to obtain her, Lauren was freaking out. She had figured out how to turn back into a human, and broke into a sprint out of class and into the hall. She was screaming down the halls, attracting a lot of attion, both from class mates, and teachers. Her whole science class was following her down the hall, some yelling, "Yeah, run you filthy mutie!"

As she ran outside, she was greeted by the MRD, all of them armed and deadly. The soldiers tried to coax her into the truck, or rush her and grab her, anything that did not involve deadly force. Lauren did not want to go in the truck, or even go with them at all! She figured out a way to get by them, she said "bird", a flash of light, and a grey pigeon stood in her place. She quickly flew off, dodging trash thrown by her fellow classmates. The trash hit her, and caused her a lot of pain, one person even threw thumbtacks, which grazed her wing, and bled. She thought, "These cuts do not bleed blood, but sorrow and disgrace.

She flew until she could fly no more, she had crashed into a large forest, and turned from a bird back to herself. She rested for a bit before trying to get out of the forest and finding someone to help her. Lauren walked for almost two hours before she found a way out, and heard strange noises coming from far away. She walked toward it until she came to a circus, sadly, it was closed for the night. She would not be able to find anyone to help her now, so she started to cry very softly, and many tears were coming do her face. Lauren did not notice, but one of the trailers lights came on, and a woman came out of it. The woman came over to Lauren, and said "Oh, you poor little thing, please, come with me". The woman helped Lauren up, and said "My name is Margali, by the way". She helped Lauren up, and Lauren followed Margali to her trailer, feeling a relief she had not felt in a long time.

"What is your name, young one, and why are you here?" "My name is Lauren, and I had to run away from my home". Margali did not ask her why Lauren ran away, she felt that was too personal to ask. "It is very late at night, and it seems you have nowhere to go", Margali implied, "My daughter has room in her trailer, so why not stay there?" Lauren nodded her head, and two walked over to Margali's daughter's trailer. Margali knocked on the door, and said, "Amanda, please open the door, I need to talk to you". Amanda opened the door and stared at Lauren, and said "Ummm, who is this mom?" Margali explained everything, and Amanda let Lauren stay with her. They both talked for a long time before they decided to get some sleep. In Lauren's mind, she thought,"Things are finely looking up for the mutant".


	2. A Sparrow Set Free

A Sparrow Set Free

In the morning, Margali woke both of the girls up and took them out to the circus tent. Lauren looked up at the tight rope and longed to be up there. Margali noticed this, and questioned, "Lauren, would you like to try the tight rope?" Lauren looked at her and nodded her head, and Amanda helped her up, and told Lauren she would help her. Almost immediately, she was out on the tight rope, with perfect balance, and extreme concentration. Amanda was speechless, Lauren was a natural! She carefully turned upside down, and balanced perfectly on her hands. Margali yelled up, telling her to come down. Not only did she come down, but she also did flips coming down, and landed perfectly. "Wow, that was spectacular Lauren, exclaimed Margali, "Where did you learn to do that?"

"I'm not sure", she said,"But I just knew". Amanda and Margali looked at her with a puzzled look on their faces. Both of them were thinking about the same thing, her joining the circus.

"Lauren," Margali said, "How would you like to join us?"

"Wow, you mean being with the other tight rope walkers?" Lauren said excitedly "I'm in!" The three of them went off to find the crew, to tell them about the latest whole circus crew was sitting in the bleachers, talking about one performer that had left a long time ago, and wondering what he was doing now, when the three came in. "Hey Margali, one yelled, "Who's the new kid?"

"This is Lauren", Margali explained "She is our new tight rope walker, she will be joining the others with the routine".

"But, she's a kid, and there's a show tonight," one of tight rope walkers yelled. "How the heck is she supposed to learn the routine in time?"

"Teach her", Margali said, as she and Amanda walked away. Lauren looked at the rest of them with a very shy look on her face. The other tight rope walkers took her back to the tight rope and slowly taught her the routine. All of them had to admit, she was good. Although, they had to tell her not to jump off the rope, and do flips all of the time. Eventually, they did let her, it gave the act more flair. The night of the performance was nerve wreaking for Lauren, she was so nervous. The only thing that could calm her was Margali's words of comfort, telling her that she would do great. She got to watch other acts, and they were spectacular, there were lion tamers, fire breathers, and so many more. Apparently, the tight rope walkers was their star performers; that put a lot of pressure on Lauren. The ringmaster announced the next act, the acrobats and tight rope walkers.

She followed them out to the ring. They all started up the ladder to get up to the tight rope. One by one, they made their way out on the tight rope, and started the show. They slowly arched over until all of them were in handstands, balancing on one hand. One by one, each performer started to spin on the rope, quicker and quicker, and started to jump off the rope! Lauren jumped last, to make sure she knew what to do. When she jumped, one of the acrobats caught her and flung her back to the rope, like everyone else. She sat on the rope, to watch the acrobats spin and leap of the trapeze. When they were done, the others carefully walked back to the platform, but Lauren stayed, to do her flip off the rope. As soon as everyone else was off, she jumped off. She did so many flips, that it was just a blur.

The crowd went wild, clapping , cheering, and jumping up and down. The performers bowed, and looked quite pleased with Lauren. She loved how well she did, even though she was so nervous. At the end of the whole show, she was congratulated by everyone, performers and fans alike. Margali took them all out to dinner to congratulate Lauren's performance. Lauren loved it, the food was great, and she finally felt she belonged there, not out of place at all. She looked around the restaurant, and noticed a man in a wheel chair, with a strange group of people around him. One was kinda short, and grumpy, and one looked like a 30s movie star she had heard of, Errol Flynn, she thought. She quickly turned her head away when one of the people looked at her funny.

After dinner, when they got back to the circus, Margali told them all they would be moving to another town soon, right after their last performance. Lauren was so glad, to finally get away from this cursed town, her parents, friends, and home. The rest of the performers were equally happy to move, they preferred big cities to small towns. During the last act, Lauren again spotted those strange people, but this time, there was a larger group of them, and they all looked very strange. After the show, she saw that same man in the wheel chair talking to Margali! She quietly came over, and hid behind a tree, just to listen in.

"Mrs. Szardos, I would like to talk to you about your one acrobats, Lauren I believe", explained the man.

"Yes, but why do you want to talk about her?" Margali questioned, "She has done nothing wrong, as far as I know."

"I know, but I would just like to see if she would be interested in coming to my school", he implied.

"What type of school, ?"

Lauren did not listen to the rest of the conversation, she could not understand why he wanted her to go to some school; perhaps he is just some guy that kidnaps mutant kids to test on. She, instead of walking back to her trailer, she turned into a bat, and flew back to the trailer. Along the way, she spotted those same creepy people, waiting by a Rolls Royce. She landed by them, but in a tree, so as not to be seen. They were mostly talking about some kid, possibly Lauren, and how well the same kid did in the act. She was shocked to see that one of these people were blue! She almost screamed in shock, and thought, "Oh man, that guy isn't even human!" She suddenly realized that thinking the word "human" was not smart, for in a burst of light, she fell out of the tree, in her human form. The strange people looked at this girl that had fallen out of the tree, from a burst of light.

They all rushed over to her, to make sure she was okay. Lauren was very scared, and tried to run, but had twisted her ankle when she fell, and could not. As the group rushed up to her, she thought, "Oh great, now they're going to kidnap me!" Instead, they came over to her and asked her if she was okay. She nodded and very slowly got up, wincing a little bit at the pain. Lauren noticed that the blue guy was staying by the car, probably not wanting to scare her. " Who are you people?" she asked.

"I'm Scott Summers, over there is Logan and Ororo Munro", he told her,"And the one by the car is Kurt Wagner".

"Oh, well I'm Lauren, and I'm with the circus".

They all talked for a bit, and Lauren really wanted to know why Kurt was staying by the car, but Scott just told her that Kurt did not look like most people. She had to talk to him, and just as she was about to, Margali and came over. Apparently, they had been talking about Lauren coming with them to try a special school, in Westchester, New York. Margali was not sure if Lauren would, but it was worth a shot. Lauren instantly protested, she did not want to go to some school, when she had only been at the circus for one day. "Well Charles", Margali said,"It seems she's made up her mind". Charles Xavier nodded, and gave Margali his card, just in case she changed her mind.

Scott, Ororo, Logan, Xavier, and Kurt got back in the car after saying good bye to everyone. Lauren did get to talk to Kurt, and found him quite interesting. Kurt found Lauren very nice, and she was not scared at all by his appearance. After they were gone, Lauren really wanted to find out more about them and see them again. She knew she was a mutant, and they were too, even Professor Xavier. But the strangest thing was Margali and Amanda knew Kurt! That got her very curious, she would ask them later, but first she had to ask Margali if she could do something with her act, maybe go solo, with a new name, and a very snazzy outfit. She went off to find them, guessing they would either be in the circus tent or the trailer. She checked the tent first, but no one was there. But they were in the trailer talking about Kurt. She knocked on the door, and they let her in. Lauren asked them why they were talking about Kurt, and they said, "We were just surprised that he was still alive." Margali noticed the confused look on Laurens face, and had to explain. "I found him as a baby by a river,on day and took him in," Margali continued. "He lived here for many years, until he had to leave the circus." (Those of you who know a lot about Nightcrawler's past, know why) "We had not heard from him in such a long time, so we just assumed he was dead." Lauren took all of this info in, and was pretty shocked when Margali told her about this. She guessed this was not a good time to ask about her act.

She had asked a lot of questions about Kurt, mostly what he was as a kid, and what he did in the circus. Afterword's, Amanda and Lauren stayed up a little longer. Amanda was wondering why Professor Xavier had come to Lauren, and she thought of an answer.

"Uh, Lauren," she said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Umm... Are you, you know, a mutant?"

Lauren, feeling that Amanda was friends with a blue dude, she would be ok with this. "Yeah I am" Lauren noticed that Amanda had some doubt, so she decided to show her. Lauren just thought of the word, "Dog" and a dog was in her place. Amanda was convinced, after Lauren had turned back, Amanda started asking many questions, and they stayed up until about 12:00am. In the morning, Amanda and Lauren told Margali about last night, and Margali was ok with it, and even surprised Lauren with her own act, suspecting she wanted one. Lauren was very excited, and she had the perfect name for the ringmaster to call, Sparrow.


	3. Move on

She had been traveling with the circus for about three months, and growing very popular. Sparrow was a fan favorite, with many flips speeding to the ground a favorite move. But, she felt a little bit board. She did the same act every time, with a little bit of change. New tricks, faster spins, and a mix of tight rope and trapeze. She longed for excitement, and maybe some fighting. She had been looking up Professor Xavier and found he was the founder of the Xavier Institute, and he ran the school successfully. Margali had noticed that Lauren had become very interested in the school, and had asked her if she truly wanted to go to the institute. Lauren looked a little surprised and just said "I'm not sure Margali, I love it here, but I also want to find out more about my powers, and I can't do that here"

Margali nodded and just said, "Do whatever you think you should do Lauren. I will not hold you back." Lauren had tears in her crystal blue eyes as Margali said this. She loved the circus, but she wanted to go to the school, she sadly told Margali. Margali nodded and walked off to call Charles Xavier to tell him Lauren will come to his school. With a heavy heart, Lauren went to her trailer, and packed up her belongings. Amanda had come in too, and when she saw the bags, she started to cry. Lauren was her best friend in the circus, and would she would miss her terribly. But she understood why Lauren wanted to leave, and wouldn't try to convince her to stay.

Lauren was instructed by Margali to fly to the Houston Airport, and wait for the professor there. She had to fly for about thirty minutes before she reached the airport. To her surprise, Charles Xavier was already there, and waiting for her. She followed him to the parking lot, and was supervised to see the same Rolls Royce she saw on the first day she met him. As she got into the car, she noticed one of Xavier's X-Men was driving the car, the X Men are a team of mutants picked by Xavier, she guessed it was Cyclops, judging by the red glasses. The whole ride was nice, but not very comfortable, she had to sit in the car for a least ten hours! It wasn't all bad though, she talked to Scott and Xavier, looked out the window, and listened to music.

Finally, after what seemed like days, they came to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children, and it was magnificent! It was a big, brick house, with ivy growing up one of the walls, and a beautiful garden. When the car stopped, she slowly got out and looked around. She hoped this place wasn't formal! Slowly, she followed Xavier and Scott into the building. The moment she stepped in, again, she was overwhelmed with the fact that this was the biggest place she had ever been! There was a long, marble stair case, and chestnut cabinets, and everything a rich person would have. The only thing that was lacking were the students and teachers. She trailed behind Professor Xavier, to have a quick tour of the school. This way she would know where her classes were, and so she could see who her teachers would be. As she walked with Xavier, she got to look in the classrooms, and was surprised to see the X-Men were the teachers. She was shown to her dorm, which was not as impressive as the rest of the place, and introduced to her room mate. Her name was, Sally Young, also know as True. Her power was being able to see the truth about people. Lauren could already tell she and True would be very good friends.

Later, she was brought to the Danger Room, a large room just for training. She was amazed by it, and immediately wanted to try it out, but Scott told her she was not ready to, and would have to wait a few days. Sighing, she walked off with Scott, and hoped she could get in there soon. Scott had told her to walk around on her own, so she to get to know the place. She obeyed him, and walked away out of sight, so she could get to the danger room without being seen. She could not risk actually training, so she watched other students practice, from the observatory.

What she witnessed was incredible. People flying in the air, dodging lasers and all sorts of things. When the students left, two of the X Men, Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) and Wolverine (Logan) came in. She became slightly more observant as the two practiced, since their ability's were better than the students. Lauren just about jumped as she saw Wolverines claws come out of his wrists, and did jump as she saw Nightcrawler teleport from one end the room, and appeared on the other side. She wished she could join them, it looked so fun! They were fighting robots (that had flame throwers) and the robots never seemed to end. She also spotted a scoreboard on one of walls. She nearly laughed, now knowing that they were merely seeing who could nail the most 'bots in a certain amount of time.

Down in the danger room, not in the observatory, Wolverine spotted Lauren watching him and Nightcrawler. He paid no mind to her, and went on with the program. He heard a buzzer sound as the robots stopped coming, he smiled as he looked at the scoreboard.

"Hey 'Crawler," he yelled, " Beat you by five 'bots!"

"Of course, _mien Freud_," Nightcrawler implied. "You have razor sharp claws, while all I can do is punch and kick." He said this with a smile, as it was more of a joke.  
"Yeah", Wolverine said, with his head turning to where Lauren was. Nightcrawler understood what Wolverine wanted, and instantly went up to the observatory.

Lauren wondered where Nightcrawler went, and quickly got her answer. He appeared behind her, and before she could do anything, was teleported down to the danger room. Amazingly, she was not upset or scared, in fact, it seemed like she wanted to be in here the whole time. Wolverine told Nightcrawler to start up one of the programs, an easy one, and Lauren suddenly remembered, she was told not to do this. But, she was already here, so... no harm done.

Kurt had chosen one of the easy-hard programs, easy for her, hard for them. Lauren was a little scared at first, but quickly got over that. Logan and Kurt were surprised that she actually knew how to fight, and how to fight _well_. She was incredibly brave, but knew what she could handle, and what she couldn't. The three of them aced the program in less than a half hour.  
"Pretty good for a new comer" Logan yelled. Lauren smiled a bit, but that smile faded when Cyclops entered the room. He was not happy, not one bit. He walked straight over to Kurt and Logan, and started to yell at them, his face was redder than his sunglasses.  
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?" He screamed.  
"Relax boss man" Logan said, "We were just showing the new kid how to deafened her self". He noticed Scott was getting madder and added,"She begged us to."  
"No, you told Nightcrawler to get me down here, and I was just watching from the observatory until I was forced to come down here". Kurt and Logan glared at Lauren, who in turn gave them a smug look. Cyclops was close to exploding at this point. "You mean to tell me, you to forced a new student, who barely knows anything about her powers, to practice in the danger room, and risk getting hurt?"  
"Basically," both Logan and Kurt agreed.

The next thing that happened was Cyclops took off his glasses, and both men were hurled to the other side of the room. Lauren could have been smart and left, but she stayed and watched them. She laughed to her self as Wolverine launched himself at Scott, claws extended, and fought with Cyclops. Scott ended up taking most of the hits. Kurt and Lauren tried to stay out the way, and talked more. "You realize this is your fault," Kurt told her.

"I know, but Logan was going to get me in trouble."

"True," he said."But, you had no right to rat us out."

She laughed and quickly left, she did not want to answer Kurt.


End file.
